TN govt will approach Tribunal if award hits state:Minister

Chennai, Feb 8 (UNI) Amidst mounting criticism from the opposition AIADMK that the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) was unfair, Tamil Nadu Public Works Minister Duraimurugan today said the Government would approach the Tribunal if any provision in the award affected the state's interests.

'Legal experts and officials are carefully examining the award which runs for more than 1000 pages. If it is found the State will be affected by any of the provisions of the award, the government will approach the Tribunal and resolve it,' the minister said in a statement here.

He contested the claims of AIADMK General Secretary J Jayalalithaa that Bhavanisagar farmers would be hit hard as the Tribunal had given 30 tmc ft water to Kerala.

Mr Duraimurugan said the Cauvery's tributaries like the Kabini, Bhavani and Amaravathi had catchment areas in Kerala as well and about 33 tmc ft of Bhavani waters were in that state.

Tamil Nadu had argued before the CWDT that Kerala be given 4.2 tmc ft but the Tribunal had apportioned six tmc ft for that State.

However, this was not from Tamil Nadu's share. The apportioned share was included in Kerala's share of 30 tmc ft, he clarified.

'Even if Kerala does not use this, it will only come to Tamil Nadu and not go waste as said by the former Chief Minister,' he said. The Government would file a clarification petition in the Tribunal to seek clear guidelines for implementation of the award by the proposed Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee.

The State would not be affected by the quantification of Cauvery water as 740 tmc ft as water would be shared in short intervals.

As far as calculation of water release was concerned, the State had urged for an automatic water level recorder at lower areas of Billigundulu. The State would again press the CWDT on this, he said while allaying fears related to water release calculation.

UNI